Former CDC Director Susan Monarez testified she'd been instructed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to stop talking to lawmakers, despite her concerns about his vaccine demands.

Dr. Susan Monarez, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday that US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Former CDC Director Susan Monarez testified that she was fired from the agency after refusing to comply with two demands made by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Monarez delivered her opening statement during a Senate HELP Comittee hearing weeks after her firing.

During a Senate hearing Wednesday morning, two former leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contested Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s version of why they departed the agency in August.

Susan Monarez, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said she was told not to speak directly to senators by leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) before being fired last month.

Susan Monarez, the fired CDC director, and Debra Houry, one of three top agency leaders who resigned in protest, are testifying before the Senate health committee.

Fired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Susan Monarez will tell senators that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pressured her to endorse new vaccine recommendations before seeing scientific evidence,

Monarez, who was fired after 29 days in the job, warned that once-contained diseases such as polio and whooping cough could return.